International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848

PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 924
PIG Based Water Quality Assessment in West
Suvarnamukhi River Basin, Karnataka, India

Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.

Dept. of Geology, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India.
E-mail: manju.dynamics@gmail.com

Abstract

Groundwater quality depends on the quality of
precipitation, recharging water, surface water
and sub-surface geochemical processes.
Changes in the constituents of the recharging
water and human intervention cause changes
in groundwater quality. Water pollution affects
both water quality and human health. Hence it
is essential for continuous monitoring of the
quality of groundwater so that pollution can be
minimized. The computed values of Pollution
Index of Groundwater (PIG) for West
Suvarnamukhi River Basin varies from 0.67 to
2.02. The Insignificant pollution zone covers
an area of 78.6%, 14.4% by Low pollution,
5.5% by Moderate and about 1.47% of High
pollution zone. Spatial variation map has been
prepared using GIS. The variation map depicts
that most of the study area accounts for
Insignificant pollution zone (78.6%). Spatial
distribution map reveals that the higher values
of Ow in moderate and highly polluted zones
is mainly due to geogenic, anthropogenic
factors and also it is compounded due to
agricultural activity. The results obtained from
the study indicates that groundwater is suitable
for both drinking and domestic purpose in
general, except in few cases.
Keywords: Water Quality , PIG, Spatial
Variation, Geogenic, Anthropogenic, Agro inputs.




Introduction
Groundwater is an important source for
domestic, agricultural and industrial use.
Economic growth, increased population and
other developmental activities have resulted in
demand for water resource. This is also a cause
for degradation of its quality. Changes in
topography and drainage system directly affect
both quantity and quality of the groundwater.
For the past few decades water pollution has
become a major problem in many developing
countries including India. The groundwater
pollution is due to either natural or
anthropogenic activities. Groundwater quality
depends on the quality of recharging
precipitation, recharging water, surface water
and sub-surface geochemical processes. Water
pollution affects both water quality and human
health. Due to this fact, it becomes essential for
continuous monitoring of the quality of
groundwater so that pollution can be
minimized.

Water quality is influenced by natural and
anthropogenic effects including local climate,
geology and agricultural practices. The quality
is a function of the physical, chemical and
biological parameters and could be subjective,
which depends on the intended use. There are
different ways for assessing water quality. One
of the technique for demarcating groundwater
quality and its suitability for domestic purposes
is Pollution Index of Groundwater (PIG). It is
a technique of rating that provides the
composite influence of individual water
quality parameters on the overall quality of
water for human consumption (Brown,1972).
It serves in understanding of water quality by
integrating complex data and generating a





International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 925
score that describes water quality status
(Mishra and Naik, 2011). In this context an
attempt has been made to quantify the
pollution for the present study area.

Study Area

The West Suvarnamukhi river is a major
tributary of Vedavati river, flowing in Tumkur
and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka. The
river basin lies between Lat.13
0
15' to 13
0
55'
N and Long. 76
0
20' to 76
0
55' E (Map 1). The
areal extent of the basin is 1745 sq. kms. The
highest elevation in the basin is 1071m. noticed
at Venkajjigudda to the east of
Chikkanayakanahalli and a minimum
elevation of 673m. is seen near
Javagondanahalli. Other prominent
topographic features within the basin are
Chikkanayakanahalli Schist belt and
Javagondanahalli belt. The major part of the
basin lies in Tumkur district and a small
northern portion of the basin is in Chitradurga
district. The NH- 4 passes through the northern
end of the basin near Javagondanahalli.
Bangalore-Shimoga State Highway passes
close to the Southern boundary of the basin. No
railway line passes through the basin. The
nearest airport is Bangalore, which is 135 Kms.

Methodology
In West Suvarnamukhi river basin 152
groundwater samples were collected from
various locations. The samples were analyzed
for pH, EC, major cations viz.,Calcium,
Magnessium, Sodium, Potassium and anions
viz., Sulpate, Chloride, Nitrate and Bicarbonate
by adopting standard analytical procedures.
The analyzed data has been used in the
computations. The standards for drinking
purposes as recommended by WHO and BIS
have been considered for the calculation of
PIG (Davis and Dewiest 1966 and Holden
1970).

There are different steps for computing PIG
which includes assigning a weight to each
chemical parameter according to its relative
importance in the overall quality. PIG is a
mathematical equation used to transform large
number of water quality data into a single
number. It is simplest method to know about
quality and possible use of the water body.
Computation of Pollution Index of
Groundwater (PIG)
PIG is a technique of rating which provides the
composite influence of individual water
quality parameters on overall quality of water
for human consumption (Horten,1965). PIG is
a mathematical tool to integrate the complex
water quality data into a numerical score that
describes the overall water quality status. The
computation of PIG involves the following
steps.
Relative Weight (Rw)
Each Chemical parameter is assigned a
weightage by keeping its impact on human
health into consideration. The range of
numerical magnitude of Relative weight
ranges from 1 to 5 (Table - 1). For instance the
parameters like pH, F, NO3, SO4 are assigned
the Rw 5 and Na, Cl as 4 and Ca, Mg as 2
respectively. The lower values of Rw indicates
lesser impact of respective chemical
parameters on health and higher values have
more impact over human health.
Map: 1Study Area





International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 926
Computation of Weight Parameter (Wp)
Weight parameter is the ratio of Rw of every
water quality measure to the sum of all relative
weights. Weight parameter enables to know
about the relative share of each water quality
measure on overall water quality. The Wp is
given by the equation;
wp =
Rw
Rw

Status of Concentration (Sc)
Status of concentration is the ratio of
concentration of each water quality measure of
every water sample (C) to its respective
drinking water quality standards (Ds). The Sc
of each water quality measure is computed by
the equation;
Sc =
C
s

Table - 1: Weightage scheme
Overall Water Quality (Ow)
The overall water quality is computed by taking the
product of each water quality measure with its
corresponding status of concentration. Ow reflects
overall water quality and also enables to understand
the nature of weight parameter with respect to
concentration of each water quality measure. Ow is
calculated by;
0w = wp Sc
Pollution Index of Groundwater (PIG)
PIG is calculated by the addition of all the
values of Ow contributed by all the water
quality measures of each water sample. PIG is
given by;
PI0 = 0w
PIG Classification
The classification of PIG is based on water
quality standard for drinking purpose. PIG
classification could also be used in the
assessment of groundwater contamination.
When both the values of quality of particular
water sample and concentration of water
quality measure are same then their impact on
health could be insignificant. With an account
of this, when the PIG value is less than 1.0, it
could be considered as a non-pollution index
and when PIG exceeds more than 1.0, then it
may be the contribution from a contaminant
into an aquifer thus polluting.
PIG Quality Status
0 - 1 Insignificant Pollution
1 - 1.5 Low Pollution
1.5 - 2 Moderate Pollution
> 2 High Pollution
PIG based Pollution Zones
Result and Discussion
Table - 2: Composition of groundwater
Const.
(mg/l.)
Relative
Weight
Weighted
Parameter
BIS
Ca 2 0.052 75
Mg 2 0.052 30
Na 4 0.105 200
K 1 0.026 10
Cl 4 0.105 250
SO4 5 0.131 150
NO3 5 0.131 45
F 5 0.131 1.20
HCO3 3 0.026 300
EC
(ms/cm)
2 0.052 1400
pH 5 0.131 7.5
Const.
(mg/l.)
Max Min Mean S.D Coef.
of
var.
Ca 314 8 81.3 61.1 75.15
Mg 196 3 43.5 30.3 69.65
Na 690 20 135.6 102 75.22
K 90 0 12 14.6 121.6
Cl 840 20 176.6 151.1 85.56
SO4 583 7 86.8 86.1 99.53
NO3 237 1 56 45.8 81.78
F 2.2 0.5 0.8 0.4 50
HCO3 911 83 372.1 154.7 41.57
EC
(ms/cm)
6400 400 1394 826.3 59.27
pH 8.9 7 7.6 0.4 5.26





International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 927
The study area has pH varying from 7 to 8.9
with an average of 7.6. The desirable limit of
pH for drinking water is 7 to 8.5. EC of the
groundwater varies from 400 to 6400
microsiemens/cm at 25
o
C with an average of
1394. The Calcium value in the study area
ranges from 8 mg/l to 314 mg/l with an average
of 81 mg/l. The Magnesium value ranges from
3 mg/l to 196 mg/l with an average of 43 mg/l.
The average Sodium content for the study area
is 135 mg/l, ranging from 20 mg/l to 690 mg/l.
Potassium concentration is found varying from
traces to 90 mg/l, with an average of 12 mg/l in
groundwater. The Sulphate concentration
varies from 7 mg/l to 583 mg/l. with an average
of 86 mg/l. Chloride concentration in the study
area ranges from 20 mg/l to 840 mg/l with an
average of 176 mg/l. Nitrate concentration
varies from 1 mg/l to 237 mg/l with an average
of 56 mg/l. Fluoride concentration ranges from
0.5 mg/l to 2.2 mg/l. with an average of 0.8
mg/l. Statistical parameter of the analytical
results of groundwater is given in Table 2
below.
PIG values are computed for water quality
measures in West Suvarnamukhi River Basin.
In the study basin the PIG values varies
between 0.674 to 2.033. According to the PIG
classification, about 78.6% of the total
groundwater samples represents insignificant
pollution zone in the study area.14.4% as Low
pollution, 5.5% as Moderate and about 1.47%
as High pollution zone. The relative
contribution of concentration of water quality
measure of each water sample is taken into
consideration, if Ow is more than 0.1(which is
the 10% of the value of 1.0 of PIG). This gives
a clear picture on impact of pollution on
groundwater system.
Spatial variation map has been prepared using
GIS. The variation map (Map-2) depicts that
Insignificant pollution zone by 78.6% is
covering the study area. Low pollution zone is
spread randomly throughout the basin and few
pockets of moderately polluted zones are
observed in southern portion of the basin.












However a few pockets of high pollution zone
are observed in central and southern portion
of the basin i.e., in and around Huliyar and
Jayachamarajapura.
Generally PIG value of Insignificant zone
ranges from 0 to 1. However in the present
investigation overall PIG value of Insignificant
zone is 0.64. But in Insignificant zone only
NO3 (0.10) and pH (0.13) have Ow equal/more
than 0.1. The remaining chemical parameters
Viz., Ca (0.04), Mg (0.05), Na (0.05), K (0.02),
SO4 (0.05), Cl (0.05), HCO3 (0.09) EC (0.04)
and F (0.02) which are less than 0.1 are natural
contributors under normal condition. The
variation of NO3 from 1 to 273 (Table-2) is
mainly due to agro inputs and to some extent
lithology also. But in case of pH ranging from
7 to 8.9 is mainly due to HCO3.
Ow value of Low pollution zone ranges from 1
to 1.5 and overall PIG value is 1.42. The water
quality parameters Viz., Ca (0.10), Mg (0.12),
Na (0.13), SO4 (0.16), NO3 (0.28), Cl (0.16),
HCO3 (0.14) and pH (0.13) which are 0.1 and
above (Table-3). But K (0.06), EC (0.09) and
F (0.01) are the parameters having less than
0.1. The above said parameters except K, EC
and F were in insignificant pollution zone. The
high value Ow in case of Na, SO4, NO3 and Cl
Map:2 Spatial distribution of pollution zones





International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 928
is due to both geogenic and anthropogenic
sources.
Fig.1: PIG values and Pollution Intensity
In Moderate pollution zone Ow ranges from
1.5 to 2. The groundwater in the Moderately
But the chemical parameters Viz., Ca (0.11),
Mg (0.17), Na (0.18), SO4 (0.24), NO3 (0.35),
Cl (0.21), HCO3 (0.16), EC (0.12) and pH
(0.13) which are greater than 0.1. However K
(0.07) and F (0.01) are the only two parameters
which have Ow less than 0.1. The reason for
the chemical parameters having Ow more than
0.1 is due to geogenic as well as anthropogenic
factors along with the agro inputs. The
groundwater samples from High pollution
zone have a Ow value greater than 2.0 but the
average Ow value in this zone for the study
area is 2.02. The chemical parameters Viz., Ca
(0.20), Mg (0.15), Na (0.11), SO4 (0.50), NO3
(0.47), Cl (0.19), EC (0.15) and pH (0.13)
which have Ow greater than 0.1. But
parameters Viz., K (0.03), HCO3 (0.08) and F
(0.001) are the three parameters where Ow is
less than 0.1. Hence the chemical parameters
with Ow greater than 0.1 in High pollution
zone is attributed to geogenic, anthropogenic
origin and chemical fertilizers in agricultural
activity.
Conclusion
The computed values of PIG for West
Suvarnamukhi River Basin varies from 0.67 to
2.02. However 78.6% of total groundwater
samples lies in Insignificant pollution zone,
14.4% in Low pollution, 5.5% in Moderate and
1.47% in High pollution zone. Spatial variation
map is prepared in GIS. The variation map
depicts that most of the study area accounts for
Insignificant pollution zone (78.6%). Low
pollution zone is spread randomly throughout
the basin and few pockets of moderately
polluted zones are observed in southern portion
of the basin. A few pockets of high pollution
zone are seen in central and southern portion of
the basin. Spatial distribution map reveals that
the higher values of Ow in the moderate and
highly polluted zones is mainly due to
geogenic and anthropogenic factors. Even the
agro inputs are a source for some of the
anomalies seen and explained. Hence it can be
concluded that groundwater in the basin is
suitable for both drinking and domestic
purpose based of pollution index of
groundwater.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the financial
assistance received from the University Grant
Commission, New Delhi as a Major Research
Project in carrying this research work.
Reference
BIS (2003). Drinking water - specification,
Bureau of Indian Standards: New Delhi
IS;10500.
Brown R.M., Mc Cleil, Deininger R.A. and
O'Conner M.F., (1972). A water quality index
crashing the psychological barrier, Edi. Bys.H.
Jenkis, proc. Int. Conf. on water poll., Res.
Jerusalem. 6,787-797.
Davis S.N., Dewiest R.J.M., (1966).
Hydrogeology, John Wiley & Sons Inc.,New
York.
polluted zone has an average Ow value of
1.8.





International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-7, August 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
PIG A!"# $A%"R &'A(I%) A!!"!!*"+% I+ $"!% !'VAR+A*',-I RIV"R A!I+, ,AR+A%A,A,
I+#IA Manjunath H. N. and Suresh T.S.
P a g e . 929
Holden W.S., (1970). Water treatment and
examination, Churchill Publishers: London.
Horten R.K., (1965). An Index number for
rating water quality, J. Water Poll. Cont.
Fed.37 (3): 300-306.

Mishra P.C and Patel R.K., (2011). Study of
the pollution load in the drinking water of
Rairangpur, a small tribal dominated town of
North Orissa, Indian J. Environ. Ecoplan. 5(2),
293 - 298.


















PIG Ca Mg Na K SO4 NO3 Cl HCO3 EC pH F
mg/l Ow mg/l Ow mg/l Ow mg/l

Ow mg/l Ow mg/l Ow mg/l Ow mg/l Ow ms/cm Ow Ow mg/l Ow
Insignificant Pollution Zone
0.645 67 0.040 28 0.05 108 0.05 9.52 0.02 62 0.05 36 0.10 117 0.05 338 0.09 1056 0.04 7.51 0.13 0.8 0.02
Low Pollution Zone
1.424 152 0.101 72 0.12 269 0.13

26 0.06 193 0.16 97 0.28 404 0.16 570 0.14 2860 0.09 7.53 0.13 0.75 0.01
Moderate Pollution Zone
1.802 173 0.115 107 0.17 362 0.18

30 0.07 279 0.24 123 0.35 535 0.21 631 0.16 3793 0.12 7.60 0.13 0.71 0.01
High Pollution zone
2. 02 314 0.209 92 0.15 234 0.11

14 0.03 583 0.50 159 0.47 468 0.19 317 0.08 3400 0.15 7.50 0.13 0.25 0.009
* The values are avg. of that pollution
zone
Table 3. Classification of Pollution Zones based on PIG values.